2009-09-08 StamboomNederland & Verborgen Verleden

StamboomNederland

Verborgen Verleden

official announcement

live

Yesterday, StamboomNederland went live, and a superficial examination made it clear that it had been rushed out of the door before it was really finished. Today the Central Bureau of Genealogy officially announced the site.

Google Groups

Their official announcement contains one bit of unexpected news; the CBG has created a Google groups discussion group. There are just a few messages yet, but it seems that the CBG intends to use the Google Groups discussion group as their support forum.

Verborgen Verleden

There are two good reasons why the StamboomNederland site was rushed into production. One reasons is that the latest of issue of Genealogie, the quarterly publication of the CBG, contains a four-page article about StamboomNederland. That issue dropped into mailboxes across the country a few days ago. Many readers of that article are naturally curious to try the site for themselves, and may even have been calling the CBG to ask when the new site will become available.

The second reason is that StamboomNederland is associated with Verborgen Verleden (Hidden Past), the Dutch variant of Who Do You Think You Are, which debuts in just a few weeks. The CBG did not just do the research for the series, their new StamboomNederland site is also the home of the new series.

home page

Yesterday, the verborgenverleden.nl domain still redirected visitors to the Verborgen Verleden pages on the on the site of broadcaster NTR. Today, now that the StamboomNederland site is live, verborgenverleden.nl domain redirects visitors to StamboomNederland. When the series starts, viewers who decide to surf for more information will find StamboomNederland site.

StamboomNederland Original Home Page

updated

Yesterday, the StamboomNederland home page seemed a bit a empty. Today, the site advertises the Verborgen Verleden series, links the to the Verborgen Verleden pages on the NTR site, and has a link for ordering the book.

StamboomNederland Original Home Page

The English home page still displays untranslated Dutch text, and the link for the book does not work yet, but it is clear that the CBG is trying to put finishing touches on the site before the series is broadcast.

Verborgen Verleden genealogies

The NTR sites has PDF files for each episode of Verborgen Verleden containing schematic ancestral lines. These files do not list sources. The StamboomNederland site supports sources, but the genealogies that the CBG researched for the series have not been published on StamboomNederland.

untested

CBG employees have done some limited alpha testing, but the site went into production without a beta test. The decision to skip beta testing effectively turns all early users into unwitting beta testers. Thus, the early users are likely to experience a less than perfect service. That is something many early adopters are used to, but may turn off other users.

beta testers

It is a pity that development of the site was not finished in time for a beta test, but the CBG had little choice but the rush the site out. They need to know that site remains stable when real users attempt to use site in unanticipated ways.
They now have to expect the early users, their de facto beta testers, to uncover some issues and aim to fix most issues before the first broadcast of the Verborgen Verleden series.

baptism of fire

On 2010 Sep 26, the day of the first broadcast, StamboomNederland will receive its baptism of fire. On that day, the site will be introduced to perhaps a million viewers, and have to handle the resultant peak traffic.